The student wellbeing is a main topic in a time where the number of students dealing with anxiety, high stress or other mental conditions are only increasing. However, while the wellbeing centers are doing their best at trying to satisfy the need for assistance among students, their resources are often challenged by the pressure of the students in need of their assistance.

The company Health eLiving have developed the ‘Be Stress Free’ app directed to students, with different functions working to chill you out and calm you down. The app is launched the 13^th of January at Falmouth University & the University of Exeter Cornwall campuses. Read on to learn more and check it out!

Where UKC students have been consulted, the many answer that they are satisfied with the quality of the support they have received from the University wellbeing service, but that the limitation is in the amount of the support available. Each student is normally offered 5 wellbeing sessions per year, and sometimes the waiting list is long and students have to ask for support up to a month in advance. It is due to the imbalance between demand and supply of mental health services that Health eLiving have created their app ‘Be Stress Free’, which should be an aid for students in both preventing and coping with mental issues, such as stress and anxiety.

The app contains different techniques of relaxation, such as breathing exercises, meditation or deep muscle relaxation. The aim is to introduce an uncomplicated way of managing and treating mental conditions, in place of, together with, or in wait for assistance from for example the student wellbeing centres.

The app’s contents are developed by two psychiatrists, Dr Russell Green and Dr Andres Fonseca:

“We have increasingly seen how difficult it is for people to get access to basic techniques and therapies that are clinically proven to relieve stress and build resilience to stressful circumstances.”

The app is developed together with the online-games producer Richard Flowers of Fuzzy Frog; the developer of well known game titles such as Tomb Raider.

“By teaming up with Fuzzy Frog we have been able to deliver these techniques through the medium of game play familiar to the smart phone generation.” says Andres Fonseca.

The app is launched today at Falmouth University & the University of Exeter Cornwall. Their Welfare & Community President, Alexa Webster, explains the benefits

“We are increasingly aware of students experience stress and stress related illness and felt that as a Students’ Union we had a duty of care. The Be Stress Free App is a perfect solution. It enables us to reach all our students and provide them with vital support. The skills they learn here in Cornwall will serve them well for the rest of the lives and we consider coping with stress to be a vital life skill to learn.”

In times of deep stress or anxiety it can seem nearly impossible to get around to doing things. If school work is stacking up it is unlikely that you are going to prioritise depositing time for relaxed breathing. You have so many other things to do! Also in periods of anxiety the power of initiative can be non-existent. This is the kind of place where the ‘Be Stress Free’ app could be of assistance. You only have to start it. It’s just on your home screen- you know you are on your phone anyways. When starting any of the exercisers a voice will start providing the instructions and tell you what to do. Let go of your responsibilities. This guy’s got you covered. Just sit back and relax for the interval of time of your choice.